Almost the same: Jalie 2921 Scarf Top

I've made this top before, with this fabric (different color).

I know a good combo when I see one.

The pattern is Jalie 2921, which I made into a top and a dress earlier in the year. This time I'm back to the top version, and the only change I made this time was to shorten the ties by 5 inches. I like this change so much that my earlier versions may get the chop.

Since I can't tie a bow, I have to leave the ties long, and I find that they just get in the way. I'm constantly getting them wet while I'm doing dishes or washing the girls hair, and I've almost cut them off more than once while sewing.

The fabric is the Uber Soft Rayon Blend Jersey from GorgeousFabrics.com. She's all out of the peacock, but there's still some magenta (same as my first top) and army green. This stuff is amazingly soft - it makes me want to hug myself!

Almost Fall Easy Summer Dress

Remember when I said I had an idea for taking my copy of the summer RTW dress and making it with jersey? A couple of weeks ago I pulled it off, and I love how it turned out!

This is me, attempting an Oona-esque shot.

I used the skirt from the Easy Summer Dress, and then adapted my Wendy Mullin Sew U Home Stretch bodice by turning it into a deep V-neck. With the right bra, this neckline is a bit dangerous (mrow).

That's right, I'm dangerous. Watch out.

 The fabric is from GorgeousFabrics.com, but it is sadly out of stock. It's a thick, slightly sweatery jersey and I fell for the colors (more magenta, please). I hope it can be a good transition dress as it's starting to cool off here in the Midwest. As I was cutting it out, I got really excited about the stripey action in the selvedge. I wanted to use it somehow (hem? neck? create some kind of cording?) and finally decided to use it to bind the sleeves and neck. I wasn't sure how this would work as it had ZERO stretch, but I like the way it turned out.

Button is covering the joint.

So not much more to say about this one, except that my Sew U Home Stretch book has certainly turned into a good investment. It's my go-to whenever I want to create something new with knit/jersey. What about you? What are starting to sew for fall?

I'll leave you with my figurehead shot. I'm a ship!

Bi-Annual Sewing for Girls

As I've confessed before, I don't do much sewing for my girls. They have a ton of clothes already - a benefit of being one of the last of my age group to have kids, plus having a MIL who loves to shop. I don't even do much buying of clothes for my kids. I can remember purchasing a winter jacket (one season the hand-me-down goddesses let us down) and a summer jumpsuit (just cause I liked it). That's it. But I do make a birthday dress for each girl in time for her party, and the non-birthday girl gets a skirt from the leftover fabric.

The usual process is that The Birthday Girl looks through my pattern or my fabric stash and comes up with a design, and they've become pretty good at spelling it out ("I want the sleeves from this pattern, the top part just like this dress, and a swooshy skirt like your summer dress.") This year I drew a little sketch for Belly so that she could see the fabrics together, but of course said sketch is now buried somewhere in the house, and likely won't be unearthed until sometime next spring.

Belly turned 7 in August so it was her turn to design and command. She picked out her fabric in an Outlet store we happened upon when we visited friends in PA early in the summer. I will admit that my first (internal) reaction to this fabric was to cringe and shudder. I made some small effort at encouraging her in a different direction, but then thought, "Hey, it's her birthday, deal with it control-freak."

I did hold out some hope that she might forget about it or become enamored with something else, but Alas, this was THE ONE.

Details
Pattern: Bodice/sleeves from Simplicity 1435, skirt a self-drafted circle skirt 'cause a girl's gotta have twirl.

Fabric: Neon pink sequined highly synthetic monstrosity from a fabric outlet store in rural PA (not sure how they ended up with this stuff, as most everything else looked bound for an Amish household), knit tricot lining I think from GorgeousFabrics.com, AND some gorgeous RPL that definitely came from GorgeousFabrics.com and had previously been earmarked for a fall dress for myself (sorry, Ann!). Luckily I didn't need to use much for the bodice so I should hopefully have enough left for that dress.

Belt: 1.5" elastic from RuffleFabric.com. They have some lovely decorative elastics - I bought this one to use on a knit skirt for myself. I also made a plain white one that you might see in some of the pictures.

Construction notes: I attached the sleeves in the flat and hemmed (with coverstitch) the sleeves before sewing the side seams (I know, bad form, but it would have been difficult to get the wee sleeve in my serger to coverstitch after the fact). Attached necking binding as per pattern instructions. Added casing to the waist seam and 1/4" elastic. Hemmed with a serged rolled hem as there was no way those plastic sequins would fold. I didn't bother to hem the lining. For the belts, I folded down the ends and sewed with a zig zag stitch. I used velcro on the white belt and trouser hooks and eyes on the decorative belt.

And Happy Birthday to my oldest baby! (What follows is a round of gratuitous proud mama birthday shots. Indulge me, please.)

I have no idea where she learned this move.

Happy with new bike.

Birthday dinner choice? Sloppy joes made by Dad.

You can see some of Mooper's skirt in this shot - a circle skirt with elastic waistband.

The birthday girl also gets to choose their cupcake. These are ring pop cupcakes.
Somebody loves their bling.